Entries from June 2012

This afternoon after I finished up the last bit of work for the day, I went out to see what Moose what up to. He was kicked back, lounging on the porch, and he looked so content. I decided to plop his GIANT tennis ball into his pool. If you ask Moose, the pool is no place for the tennis ball to be.

First he dunked it with his paw. SPLASH!

When it floated back to the top, he dunked it even harder!

Clearly that wasn't working, so he moved on to more serious methods of tennis ball removal... the teeth!

This ball is not your average sized tennis ball. I'd say it's more like softball size ... and I think it might even be bigger than that! It's a whopper! But Moose wasn't going to give up.

His little canine teeth aren't even full size yet, so he had to give it lots of effort to pick up such a big ball.

Very slowly ... almost got it ...

Now, concentrate .... don't drop it!

Yup! Got it!

With the giant tennis ball relocated to the grass, Moose can stand with all four paws in the pool.

It was just last Thursday morning when this young guy was dumped in our driveway. I took him to the vet the next afternoon. He wasn't at all thrilled about being at the vet's office. He either wanted to be in my lap, or was almost content hiding under a chair, and he did not want anything to do with walking on a leash! There were legs and feet in all directions, and lots of sad, sad stories being sung. But aside from hurt feelings, and getting a little carsick on the way there, he got a clean bill of health.

After much thought and discussion, Alan and I have decided to keep him for our own instead of adopting him out. So, let's make it official, shall we!?

Meet Moose!

The vet aged him at 4 months old, based on the growth (or lack of) his adult teeth. His thin frame weighed 30lbs, and I was told he was at least 10lbs under weight. So, we're pretty sure he's a baby elephant. He doesn't know it yet, but we'll be returning to the vet's office in a couple more weeks for the rest of his shots, and then again the following week for a little snippity-snip-snip. There are sure to be several cookies involved.

He has a very sweet personality, is very cheerful, great with the other critters, and Alan will tell you that Moose is already a Mama's boy. *grin*

Moose has a job that he seems happy to do, and that is to keep coyotes and other predators away from the house. He already has a good WOOF, and as he grows that WOOF will only get bigger!

Welcome to the family, Moose! We are excited to watch you grow into your FEET!

It's time for another Color Throwdown Challenge! This is my fourth and final week as a guest designer. I've enjoyed participating in the CTD challenges greatly! Each week, a new color challenge is posted on the Color Throwdown blog. Stampers are encouraged to participate, and the designers who contribute weekly provide wonderful samples to inspire.

I enjoyed this week's color challenge. The fresh pop of coral and tangerine along with the pool party blue are very "summer" colors. I was inspired by all of the colors of the umbrella, not just the four posted for the challenge.

Since we're having triple digit temps this week, I think going beachside would be the way to go! I picked up this stamp at the stamp/scrap convention in Arlington last month. The stamp is K1-10880-H by Inky Antics. She's charming, and doing her best to get sun on those under-wings. *grin*

Pop over to the Color Throwdown blog and participate in this week's color challenge. I'd be delighted, if you did!

My friend Karrie and I decided to do a little Rosie's Roadshow stamp challenge together. Her neice Audrey has been staying with her on a little 'stay-cation', and plans on participating in the challenge, too! I think that's the most fun! I was inspired by the activities Audrey has done while staying at Karrie's. Sleeping in (a girl needs her beauty sleep!), shopping with her Auntie, and lots of SWIMMING!! Sounds like a fabulous stay-cation to me!

Pop over to Karrie's blog and see what her and Audrey are up to for this challenge!

I'm very excited to share that I have joined the ShinHan Art Materials ARTisan team, and will be one of the designers using ShinHan Touch Twin markers, and eventually fine art watercolor pigments and paints.

For those of you who like to know what colors I use on my card projects, I'm wondering which method of display you like most. Let me know -- I'll show you three options, and of course you can always suggest other methods!

Option One: A photo of the pens, numbers showing.

Option Two: The image, along w/ a list.

Option Three: The image w/ lines to each colored area.

Or do you prefer seeing them listed another way completely; like just a list?

This morning, someone was "kind enough" to dump this young boy at the end of our driveway. We were able to catch him, get a collar on him, and set him up on our back porch with some breakfast. He's fairly thin, though not starving.

He's still young (just now getting his canine teeth, so he's about 5 months old), quite cheerful (though he was a bit nervous after his morning's experience), has GIANT webbed feet, and enjoys a good belly rub!

It's time for another Color Throwdown Challenge! This is my third week as a guest designer, and I'm having such a fun time! Each week, a new color challenge is posted on the Color Throwdown blog. Stampers are encouraged to participate, and the designers who contribute weekly provide wonderful samples to inspire.

This week's color challenge is a bit of a change from the pastel colors we've used in the previous two weeks. I enjoyed this combination, but I used only a HINT of coral. The centers of the daisies in her basket.... I told you ... just a HINT! *grin*

For my project I chose to use my Annika stamp, available at Whipper Snapper Designs. The image is stamped in Memento ink and colored with Touch Twin markers. I also used two Prismacolor pencils: color "Henna" to blush her cheeks, and color "Kelp Green" to add grass around her feet.

Here are the Touch Twin markers I used to color the image. (Click for a larger view.)

Pop over to the Color Throwdown blog and participate in this week's color challenge. I'd be delighted, if you did!

Thought you might like to see the current status of one of my kitchen counters. This is a little more than HALF of the zucchini that's in the kitchen right now. And Alan hasn't even brought in today's harvest yet... *mercy!*

The average weight of these is 2lbs each. Some as much as 3lbs. The stack goes from countertop, to the bottom of the upper cupboards at it's highest point.

After dinner tonight (we're taking Alan's parents out for Father's Day), we'll be stopping at the grocery store and picking up more onions so I can do a couple more batches of relish (we love relish!) and some zucchini pickle recipies.

The photo is of my Dad (you know him here in blog comments as DK Wight), while he and I were out fishing on Georgetown Lake, in Montana a couple summers ago. It was a wonderful time, and he even caught some fish! Fun!

So, tomatoes and zucchini aren't the only BIG produce we've harvested from the garden this year! We're also growing monster sized cucumbers! This photo can be a little deceiving... Just how big do you think those cucumbers really are?

Let me show you...

First of all, here is a photo I took on May 26, 2012 of two of the cucumbers we harvested. Aren't they so cute, and fuzzy!

Here they are again, June 13, 2012, the day we harvested them.

They are Armenian cucumbers. I received some seeds last year in a seed exchange and decided to plant a few of the seeds beneath the tree branch trellis. A few days ago, Alan and I decided to harvest a few...

This side of the cucumber was against the ground and didn't get much sun. Amazingly enough, with all the BUGS we've got this year, they have very little bug damage. The vines did get pretty beat up during the two storms we've had, though. The wind really damaged some of the leaves.

Here is Alan holding the three cucumbers we picked. They measure 26.5" & 5lbs, 22" & 5lbs, 22" & 4.75lbs. That's a LOTTA cucumber! And, by the way, the "smaller" two cucumbers in the first photo are ordinary slicing cucumbers, and both weighed .75lb each.

I knew you'd want to see the inside of one of the large cucumbers, so I snapped a photo after I sliced off what we ate for dinner that night. It was very crispy, juicy, and had excellent flavor. We'll happily grow these again!

Thought I'd post an update on the garden, to track how things are progressing. As always, click photos for a larger view. The tomatoes in the metal troughs were completely toppled over during the last storm we had. Bent over clear to the ground, cages and all. I set them upright again as best as I could, and Alan set a t-post on the outside of the trough so their cages can be tied off to it. We never get wind from the direction that caused all the damage... it was wacky! That same storm really beat up the larger zucchini plants as well, but they've done a fine job of recovering. The cucumber plants took a beating too, and sill look a little rough from all the wind.

The new garden area we put in this spring is filling in nicely. We ended up having to line up some of our hay along the backside of the garden to keep the hot southern wind from pulling the plants right up out of the ground. The wind really whips the plants around, dries them out, and pretty much ruins any chance of survival. Hay bales to the rescue! They are a temporary solution to the problem, though. We will have to put up some fence panels, like we did on the backside of the "old" garden area closer to the chicken coop. They help so MUCH!

In the new garden, we've got our second planting of zucchini. Just a few plants... that should get us by for a while longer on zucchini! There is a spaghetti squash plant at the far end, too. A new plant for us this year.

I am trying to get some watermelon to grow this year, too. The vines are doing much better now; they took a little while to get going. Before we set the hay bales along the garden, the wind was really rough on the vines. But now they seem to be growing nicely. We have enough time in the season still, so I poked a few more seeds in the ground where there were some "holes" where some of the plants didn't make it. Hopefully they come in quickly and are able to put on some fruit!

This is a row of cantaloupe. It had the same trouble with the wind that the young watermelon plants had, but now they're doing much better! Even putting on flowers!

A few more cantaloupe plants, and at the far end a couple acorn squash plants. You can see what's left of my green beans in the bottom right corner. The grasshoppers did them in. I decided just to leave them, as maybe the grasshoppers will continue to eat on them instead of the other plants.

Here you can see how the yellow zucchini plants have just about abandoned their bed and have taken up residence in the walkway. So much for getting down that path any longer! Even the chickens and ducks wondered how to get past!

In the evening, the chickens and ducks get to visit the garden and hunt for bugs. They are very good hunters, but really need to be supervised while they're in the garden. Otherwise, they get into places they're not supposed to be. For the most part they spend their time hunting bugs, and do a pretty good job of spreading out my compost pile.

More bug hunting... and I see the grass has really grown up in this pathway. Time for more wood chips!

The beds in the back of the garden where I had my salad greens, kale, and beets planted are now empty. Soon, we will prepare the beds for fall planting. I want to add more height to the sides of the beds and add more soil and compost. That will make growing in the raised beds even better! The front beds are still hanging in there. The big cucumber wall (just off the right side of the photo) is just about done for the season. The vines really got hit with bugs and I'm dealing with a lot of wilt now.

Alan is the "harvester" of cucumbers, squash, and zucchini. He leaves a zucchini on the plants if it isn't quite big enough to pick ... and then two days later, SURPRISE! It's HUGE! This is how we get 2.5lb - 3.5lb zucchini! Haa!

Amazingly enough, I have yet to see a single squash bug in the garden this year. Very unusual. I think that with our mild winter, we have a bigger spider population and they are master hunters in the garden beds. In the photo above, those are two wolf spiders (yes, the VERY VERY CREEPY kind) sitting in a zucchini plant. To give you an idea of size, the stems of the zucchini are about 1.5" diameter. They're BIG spiders. And they give me the complete willies ... but I'm learning to tolerate them in the garden.

Here is a photo of one of the spiders sitting on a zucchini leaf ... click on the photo if you'd like to see it larger. You can even see the hairs on it's legs! ACK!!

A pest we do have in the garden this year is grasshoppers. And not just one here and there.

There are oodles of them. Here they are on one of the sweet pepper stakes.

Here they are along the top of the cucumber trellis.

Here they are on the leaves of a sunflower...

And here they are on the back of a sunflower head. They're everywhere, I tell you... This is why the chickens get to hunt bugs in the garden.

And as if that wasn't enough of a garden update, stay tuned for more on our GIANT tomato, and we have another BIG garden harvest surprise to share, too!

Look what I brought in from the garden this evening! Another whopper sized Cherokee Purple tomato! I would have liked to let it ripen on the vine another day or two, but it looked like it was going to start splitting, and I DID NOT want the bugs to get it! So, into the house it went... 18.5oz! The largest tomato I've ever grown!

It's time for another Color Throwdown Challenge! I was invited to be the Guest Designer for the month of June. I'm having a great time with it, and am so grateful for the opportunity to join in the fun. Each week, a new color challenge is posted on the Color Throwdown blog. Stampers are encouraged to participate, and the designers who contribute weekly provide wonderful samples to inspire.

This week's color challenge is another palette of soft, soothing colors.

For my project I chose to use this adorable dog image from Stamps by Judith. I picked the stamp up at the scrapbook convention last weekend in Arlington. It reminds me so much of Mister Farley, it just needed to come home with me. The image is stamped in Memento ink and colored with Touch Twin markers, and I used designer papers from Cosmo Cricket. I added a pop of orange, to liven things up a bit.

I used a "loose" coloring technique to apply color to the image. The image is playful and fun, and I wanted that to be reflected in the way that it was colored as well.

Here are the Touch Twin markers I used to color the image.

Pop over to the Color Throwdown blog and participate in this week's color challenge. I'd be delighted, if you did!

This is my first year growing Cherokee Purple heirloom tomatoes, and I have to say, I'm loving them! They are delicious! I've never been able to grow very large tomatoes here, regardless of the variety. Small tomatoes grow like crazy, but I have trouble with the large tomatoes. I think they have more trouble with the heat we get than smaller cherry sized tomatoes.

I was very excited when I brought this beauty in today and set it on the scale! 14.3oz ... just a bit shy of 1 POUND! Most of the other "large" tomatoes I've brought in have been between 8oz and 11oz, so this one is a WHOPPER (from our garden, anyway!)

And I'm going to eat it for lunch tomorrow! ... I might share with Alan... *grin*

Thought I'd give you a peek at the harvest 2012 list, as of today. This doesn't count the spinach, kale, collards, beet greens, chard, radish, onion, and tomatoes...

Tomorrow I will be canning relish, cutting up zucchini for candy recipies, and juicing fresh cucumbers for breakfast!

The tomatoes are just starting to ripen, and they are delish! Cherokee Purple tomatoes have been the top "large" tomato performer for us this year. The small Juliet and Sweet 100s are coming on strong, though too!

Some of the garden beds are "done" producing for the spring/summer crop. The bugs did the last of the plants in -- mostly the spinach, kale, collards, and such. But, we're going to add more boards to the raised beds, add more soil and compost, and I'll get the beds ready for fall planting. All will be good.

In the "new" garden space, the plants are just starting to flower. We've got canteloupe, watermelon, more zucchini (hey, it grows for us, so we plant lots!), and some acorn squash, so hopefully they all do well.

My cheery news..... I am honored, and excited, to have been invited as the June 2012 Guest Designer for the Color Throwdown Challenge blog! Each week, a new color challenge is posted on the Color Throwdown blog. Stampers are encouraged to participate, and the designers who contribute weekly provide wonderful samples to inspire. I couldn't be more excited to join this group for the month of June!

This week's color challenge is a palette of soft pastel colors. Very feminine ... very spring ... very soft ... very cheery! Just what I needed!

I chose to use the "Buzzin' by Bear" image from High Hopes for my project. He's so FAT, I just want to pinch his cheeks! Both sets! *grin*

The image is stamped in Memento ink and colored with a combination of Copic and Touch Twin markers. I also used Prismacolor pencils to enhance some of the shadows. I added a layer of two-way glue and ultra fine glitter to the bear's wings and flower, for a little sparkle and shine.

Bzzzzz!!

Pop over to the Color Throwdown blog and participate in this week's color challenge. I'd be delighted, if you did!